Negotiate an MA63+ to affirm Borneo, decentralise Malaysia

 

We hold that Malaysia is an ongoing project whose sustainability must be endeavoured by every generation to fulfil its promise of wellbeing for all Malaysians from East to West, from Sabah to Perlis.

We note that our founding parents had discussed the need for a new Federal Constitution, but this was not possible due to the urgency of decolonisation for Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore.

We understand the growing perception among Sabahans and Sarawakians that the federal government’s approach to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) negotiations reflects procrastination rather than a true commitment.

We would like to underline several facts that may facilitate a better negotiation on the realisation of the MA63.

First, the Federation of Malaya was dissolved upon Malaysia’s formation to release its 11 states to federate with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore, and the federal government constitutionally and politically cannot negotiate effectively with Sabah and Sarawak without the participation and backing of the 11 peninsular states.

Second, Malaysia is neither a confederation of three regions, nor a symmetric federation of 13 equal and undifferentiated states, but an asymmetric federation of two regions (Sabah and Sarawak), 11 states in the peninsula and three federal territories.

However, Sabah and Sarawak’s status as special regions was not explicitly reflected in the original Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution upon Malaysia’s formation, and even after the 2021 constitutional amendment, it is still not.

Third, many peninsular states want to have decentralisation with more legislative powers, executive responsibilities and fiscal resources.

They can ally with Sabah and Sarawak to collectively negotiate with the federal government for a national decentralisation agenda that would devolve more powers to all states but ensure that Sabah and Sarawak always enjoy more powers than the Malayan states.

We therefore call:

1. For bold and visionary thinking that MA63 should be the floor, not the ceiling of what we can achieve in decentralisation, and the wider decentralisation package would be called MA63+, as it includes what were included in the original MA63 but may be more, for example, the powers in education, health and labours which were given to Singapore but not to Sabah or Sarawak in MA63;

2. For an inclusive negotiation to achieve MA63+, which requires, not administrative concessions or ad-hoc transfer of powers via ministerial decisions, but amendments to the Federal Constitution, in particular but not limited to,

• Article 1(2) to officially recognise Sabah and Sarawak as regions;

• Articles 45-46 on allocation of seats in Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat;

• Articles 109-112D on grants, taxes, fees and borrowing to/for/by the States；

• Articles 116-117 on federal and state elections;

• The Eighth Schedule on the basic structure of state constitutions; and

• The Ninth Schedule on the distribution of powers across the Federal List, the State Lists and the Concurrent Lists.

3. For the establishment of an Inter-Governmental Committee 2.0 (IGC 2.0), involving the federal government (1), Sabah and Sarawak (2), and the peninsular states (11), in a 1+2+11 format, with reasonable representation of the opposition in Parliament and state legislative assemblies, for the above constitutional renegotiation.

4. Upon the Sarawak premier, the Sabah chief minister, or the menteri besar or chief minister of any other state, to initiate inter-state conversation via a 2+11 premier/MB/CM summit to forge a consensus on MA63+ before presenting it to the federal government.

On this 62nd anniversary of Malaysia, let us acknowledge that our nation is still growing, and that the ties between the federal, regional, and state governments are not without flaws.

What we need now is courage and honesty to strengthen these relationships, so that together we can create a Malaysia that is more stable, more united, and more prosperous for future generations.

Selamat Hari Malaysia! - Mkini

---

This statement is jointly issued by PROJEK SAMA, BERSIH, IDEAS, TINDAK, and ROSE.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.